Rafael Nodal created the Aging Room brand to focus on small batch releases using hard to find tobaccos. The brand has garnered a good deal of attention, including being named Cigar Aficianado’s No. 2 Cigar of the Year in 2013 (the number one non-Cuban that year). The Aging Room Maduro is the second regular production cigar Aging Room has released, and it is has all the potential to become the mainstay cigar in the brand’s line. Full bodied with a complex chocolatey flavor profile, the Aging Room Maduro Mezzo is a different offering than the other cigars in the Aging Room portfolio.

Pre-Light: A red, white and silver band stands out against the dark chocolate colored wrapper. To the touch there is a oily (almost waxy) feel to the wrapper on the Aging Room Maduro.

There is an interesting aroma of firewood and fresh brewed coffee to the wrapper of the Aging Room Maduro. Off the unlit foot comes a raisin and chocolate aroma. The preflight draw is excellent letting though a mixture of wood, cocoa and nut flavors.

Burn: The burn on this cigar is super even and the cigar holds its ash spectacularly. This is a great cigar for an ash contest among friends when you want to make your smoking a little competitive. The draw is very smooth and easy with a great amount of smoke production.

Flavor: During the first half inch of the cigar is an almost chocolate brownie note mixed with sweet tobacco, dark cherries and raisins. There is a lot of pepper to the retrohale in the first quarter inch or so, but this is quickly mellows and becomes secondary to dried fruits and redwood. As the first third really gets going there are strong milk chocolate, roasted almonds and espresso flavors that mingle together nicely. Coffee, raisins and cocoa dominated the second third of the Aging Room Maduro Mezzo. A sweet powdered chocolate is the main component to the retrohale at this point in the cigar. At the halfway point just the slightest hint of cola flavor occurs that is similar to the RC Cola we drank as kids growing up in New York. The raisin note really comes through at the transition to the final third of the Aging Room Maduro, but this soon fades behind a sweet chocolate flavor that lasts through until the very end of the cigar.

Overall: To be honest, I’ve never been much of a fan of the Aging Room cigars, so I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the Aging Room Maduro as much as I did. The chocolate, coffee, nuts and cola flavors all compliment each other quite well. With its even burn and the way way it holds its ash, the quality of the construction is very apparent. Fans of chocolatey full bodied cigars are sure to enjoy the Aging Room Maduro Mezzo. It is different than the typical woodsy profile of Aging Room cigars. Personally, I plan on adding this cigar to my humidor on a regular basis. This is a hard cigar to put down and it should age quite well.

Pairing: A cup of coffee or cappuccino are the perfect choices for pairing with the Aging Room Maduro. For something a little stronger a Balvenie 17 DoubleWood or a Macallan 18 will pair nicely.